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Smuggler of Chinese Immigrants Cites Earlier Trips

Providing the fullest account to date of an operation to smuggle Chinese immigrants into the United States, a top organizer said yesterday that the smugglers transported at least 100 people on as many as five voyages from South America over a year and a half, before bungling the latest trip in May off the coast of New Jersey.

The smuggler, Nam Jick Cho, 57, was so committed to the enterprise that he said he often flew to Venezuela and Suriname from his home in Queens to insure that the Chinese were squeezed aboard the smuggling ship, the Oriental I. When the ship had mechanical trouble in Bermuda en route to New Jersey, Mr. Cho flew down carrying new parts. And to prepare for the arrival of the latest group of immigrants in Belmar, N.J., he paid $7,000 for a van to take the men to a parking lot in Flushing.

Mr. Cho offered these details and more yesterday in Federal District Court in Newark during a remarkably candid hearing in which he pleaded guilty to Federal conspiracy charges in connection with the operation, which came to light when the Oops II, a smaller boat that had picked up the men from the Oriental I, ran aground in New Jersey.

Mr. Cho is the second man involved in the Oriental I operation to plead guilty to conspiracy charges in the last week. Three other men, all crew members aboard the Oriental I, remain in Government custody, while a fourth -- a Queens resident named Charng Seon Choi, said to be another top organizer -- remains at large.

Before yesterday's hearing, some details had emerged about the Oriental I and the 23 Chinese it unloaded in New Jersey, mainly from a Federal complaint, and from the Chinese themselves. But Mr. Cho is the first person on the operations side of the endeavor to discuss what happened and what, ultimately, went wrong in New Jersey.

''Among the people we have, he is an important one,'' said Carolyn A. Murray, an assistant United States attorney. ''He was in charge of land operations, so to speak. He hired some of the others.''

Speaking through a Korean interpreter, Mr. Cho said that he had been hired by Mr. Choi to participate in a smuggling operation that solicited $25,000 to $40,000 apiece from anyone interested in leaving Fujian Province in southern China for North America.

In general, the scheme worked like this: First, the smugglers took the immigrants to Suriname by air or by ship. A man with the surname Chang, based in South America, arranged housing for the immigrants. Mr. Cho secured the use of the Oriental I, a 120-foot fishing vessel owned by a Venezuelan company, to smuggle the immigrants. Then the smugglers directed the Chinese onto a small boat that, in turn, reconnoitered with the Oriental I about 30 miles off the Suriname coast.

Each trip would include 20 or so immigrants, Mr. Cho said. And Mr. Cho would receive a cut of $7,000 from the smuggling fee paid by each immigrant.

In all, the Oriental I made four or five trips to North America between March 1997 and June 1998, Mr. Cho said, including two to the Bahamas and two to the United States.

It was not clear when or where the Oriental I made its first trip to the United States; Mr. Cho did not say. But Mr. Cho has also been indicted on similar charges in United States District Court in Manhattan, Ms. Murray said. In many cases, the final destination of the immigrants is Chinatown or Flushing, Queens, where jobs for Chinese are more plentiful.

But the most recent trip of the Oriental I was a little different.

''I got the impression that this trip was more unusual because it came into New Jersey, and not somewhere in the city,'' said Sean McGovern, Mr. Cho's lawyer. ''They had presumed that it would be safer to go into New Jersey, with less chance of being detected by the authorities.''

According to Mr. Cho, the Oriental I carried an unusually large load of 50 Chinese immigrants, with scheduled drop-offs in Belmar, N.J., and the Bahamas. In addition, the ship broke down in Bermuda, requiring Mr. Cho to fly down with new equipment.

At some point, the other smugglers gave Mr. Cho $35,000 to pay for the van -- on which the imprint of the previous owner, a Korean church, was still visible -- and other expenses in New Jersey.

On May 29, he traveled to Point Pleasant, N.J., to test out a small powerboat, the Oops II, in anticipation of picking up the immigrants. On May 30, Mr. Choi steered the Oops II to meet the Oriental I, about 100 miles offshore, while Mr. Cho waited in Belmar with the van.

There was dense fog, though, and after picking up the men the Oops II ended up in the affluent town of Bay Head, eight miles off target to the south. But Mr. McGovern said that Mr. Cho told him that he simply ran out of gas and drifted toward shore before dropping the 23 off against a backdrop of mansions.

The Oriental I, meanwhile, chugged on to the Bahamas, dropping off 20 or so more Chinese before experiencing mechanical difficulties -- again. And on June 8, the United States Coast Guard found the Oriental I about 195 miles east of San Salvador Island in the Bahamas.

Yesterday, Mr. Cho said that he felt remorse over his role in the operation, Mr. McGovern said. In exchange for his cooperation, investigators could pare his sentence from its of maximum of 10 years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

Last week, Cho Yang Nam, a deckman aboard the Oriental I, pleaded guilty to one conspiracy charge; he, too, is cooperating with authorities. Three others -- Kim Jong Che, the captain; Piao Zhen Jia, a cook, and Jiang Yong Zhu, a mechanic -- are expected to go to trial on Nov. 17, their lawyers have said.

As for the 23 Chinese from the Oops II, they remain in Government custody. The Government expects to begin taking videotaped depositions of some of the 23 men beginning Monday, Ms. Murray said, meaning that the men should be released on bond soon.

But that freedom could be brief. All still face deportation proceedings by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.